Sharp exchanges between Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness and DUP leader
Peter Robinson have confirmed the failure of the Haass talks and the
continuing difficulties within the Six-County power-sharing regime.

On Monday, a Sinn Fein motion calling for the implementation of
proposals tackling sectarian marches, the flying of flags and dealing
with the past conflict was rejected by the North’s built-in unionist
majority.

A subsequent meeting of the five party leaders was described as
“useful”, but Sinn Fein said that the party was still looking for
implementation and described a plan for the establishment of a new talks
working group as “time wasting”.

The DUP is seeking a full renegotiation of the current draft proposals,
which were drawn up by US talks mediator Richard Haass before talks
collapsed before the New Year.

Fortunately, tensions on the streets are relatively low. A flags
protest march from central Belfast on Saturday saw only 300 loyalist
protesters, despite claims that 10,000 would turn out. The march left
city hall an hour late, at 1pm, in apparent defiance of the Parades
Commission rulings, but passed off peacefully.

However, the blame game over the collapse of the process is
intensifying. Mr McGuinness said that over course of the last 18 months,
unionist parties had been “dancing to the tune of extremists within
their own community”. after it emerged that the DUP had received
briefings from high-profile loyalists Willie Frazer and Jamie Bryson.

He also said the the anti-Catholic Orange Order had been “acting as one”
with the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force in scuppering the
talks. And in an unusually frank statement, Mr McGuinness said the
elephant in the room was “whether or not unionist political leaders are
prepared to confront the extreme elements within their community who
they are letting set their agenda on Haass to date and former members of
the RUC and other Crown forces lobbying the DUP and the UUP to prevent
truth recovery processes which are victim-centred”.

In response, DUP MP Nigel Dodds accused Sinn Fein of “wallowing in the
filth of murder”, in reference to a commemorative parade last summer for
fallen IRA Volunteers in Castlederg, County Tyrone.

And on Friday morning, in the harshest statement yet, the DUP leader
Peter Robinson accused the Sinn Fein man of “acting like a dictator” and
being in “political denial”. He also claimed Mr McGuinness had a
“visceral hatred” of the Orange Order.

“He [McGuinness] speaks as if he is not one of the parties but rather
the controller and dictator of how the process will operate. He appears
to believe it is everyone else’s duty to reach an agreement on his
terms,” he said.

In a further sign of mounting tension between the two most powerful
Six-County politicians, the DUP leader added: “Sinn Fein will not
dictate the rules of engagement. They do not own the process. They do
not control how it will function or what it will (or will not) consider,
nor will they prescribe the timing.”

“As the largest party in Northern Ireland, we will not be shepherded
into any structure that restricts our ability to conclude agreement on
deal imperatives.

“If Sinn Fein or any other party does not want to be part of a process
that seeks to resolve outstanding issues they can walk away, but that
will display a lack of leadership on their part.”

But Mr McGuinness held out hopes that the US government would push a
deadline for a resolution of the Haass talks -- St Patrick’s Day, March
17. “Every year we are invited to the White House to meet with the
president, they’ve taken a huge interest,” he said.